Abu Dhabi Investment Authority close to buying $500 million stake in Lenskart: Report

Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is about to close a deal to acquire stakes worth $500 million in Lenskart, reported Bloomberg claiming sources. According to the report the sovereign wealth fund is finalising an agreement to complete the purchase of a mix of existing Lenskart shares and new equity.

It is expected that the deal would be announced as early as this week amid the funding winter and will push the valuation of the eyewear brand to over $4 billion. The talks between both ADIA and Lenskart according to Bloomberg are at an advanced stage but there could be some changes in the deal.

This funding comes at a time when global tech companies are continuing to layoff employees and top start-ups have seen a fall in their revenue and valuation.

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Lenskart, which was founded by Peyush Bansal is also backed by investors like KKR and Co., SoftBank Group Corp., PremjiInvest and Temasek Holdings Pte.

Poor funding

According to several media reports and estimates the funding for the last-stage start-ups has gone down by close to 50 per cent in comparison to 2021 and early part of 2022. In addition to this the challenge of layoffs is expected to continue.

Lenskart

Peyush Bansal started the eyewear brand in 2010 along with AMit Chaudhary and uses technology to directly sell glasses and contact lenses to customers. The company in June last year bought a majority stake in Owndays Inc. a company based in Japan for about $400 million. The company is also considering an initial public offering for the company within the next 2 years.